Access, Ownership&

New Media Freedom

The Origins of Media Freedom

• Media freedom and democracy have been seen as linked since the french enlightenment

• The media arrangements that existed at the end of the 20th century were still strongly connected to the idea that media freedom is a condition of democracy

• In the early days of media freedom the need for two way communication was seen as a prerequisite for media freedom

• This aspect of media freedom has been difficult to realise fully in the age of mass communications

Mass Media - the fordist model

• Industrial age media could be characterised as– Monolithic– Based on mass production methods– Undifferentiated– One to many mode of

communication

The Alternative Media

• In the 60s the Situationists argued that the Fordist organisation of the media prevented two way communication.

• This led to new left organised community media

The Post-Industrial Utopians

• Marshall McLuhan was a leading figure who argued that technology would solve the problems of fordism by reconnecting people with opportunities to participate in media production as well as consumption

Political Hyper-Reality

• Baudrillard claimed that the realisation of any media utopia was prevented because the one way stream of information from television was so compelling

The video revolution

• Consider the example of video:• When cheap video production

tools became available the media utopians suggested that a revolution in independent media production could take place where local distribution networks for indendent films would spring up

• What did we get?

Blockbuster

Fordism in crisis• Inflexible production

techniques• Mass unemployment• Rebellion on the

production lines• Regulation culture at

national level at odds with increasing economic globalisation

Hi-Tech Neo-Liberals

• In the era of Thatcher and Reagan, the crisis of Fordism was addressed by deregulating.

• Done partly in the name of realising media participation through media proliferation

The Revival of the Media Utopias

• The information superhighway was identified as the site for a reinvigoration of democracy by the Clinton administration.

The Rise of the internet

• The Internet offers the promise of participation and two way democracy side by side with electronic commerce

HTML

Independent media:

• Adbusters http://www.adbusters.org/

• Independent media centre - UK http://uk.indymedia.org/

• Weblogging - http://www.blogger.com/

Real Media

Media Ownership

• Over recent decades the number of companies that control the media has greatly reduced according to many sources

• From fifty in the early 80s to five now

• http://www.cjr.org/owners/• http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/

MUHome/cshtml/index.html

Ownership

How media ownership rules work

• There is a limit to the extent that one media company can supply content and control the distribution network (vertical)

• There are limits to the amount of content as a proportion of overall content that one company is allowed to supply (horizontal)

• There are limits to the number of outlets in different sectors that one company is allowed to own – e.g. newspapers and TV channels

• So far there are not restrictions in relation to new media distribution

• There are or have been specific limits placed on particular companies in relation to the regulation of monopolies

Deregulation of the media

• Most developed countries are now enacting legislation

• Balance between interests of commerce and those of the individual or society are changing in favour of commerce

• Governments need to balance the corporate goal to maximise profit (which is linked to further investment) with the interests of media freedom

UK Communications white paper

• UK Communications white paper http://www.communicationswhitepaper.gov.uk/

• OFCOM will be established in 2003 • A single regulator - will take on the

responsibilities of the five existing regulators in the sector:

• Oftel• Independent Television Commission• Radio Authority• Broadcasting Standards Commission• Radiocommunications Agency

The future of internet freedom

• For many – in the future – access to the Internet will be over their TV

• Until now telecoms companies have been obligated to provide equal access to their networks

• This has been the basis for access to the Internet in the home up until now

• With the advent of broadband - cable companies will increasingly control access to content

How to make money from content

• ‘Walled gardens’ are restricted areas on the Internet that have priviledged bandwidth . Cable companies will direct users to their own content inside the walled garden.

• Companies such as Microsoft and Cisco are marketing their interactive TV solutions with bandwidth control as a major selling point

Web ServerMedia Server

TCP/IP

Questions• To what extent does technology

determine media freedom?

• How important is the independent sector in the development of future media

• Do you see an opportunity to realise a media utopia?

Recommended reading• Media Freedom by Richard Barbrook

http://www2.unl.ac.uk/~lxfzlanec/mediafreedom.html

• Richard works at the hypermedia research centre and the University fo Westminster

• HRC has a fantastic web site that I would recommend visiting

Reading

• Benoit, Hervé. - Digital television : MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and principles of the DVB system / Herv. - London : Arnold; New York : Wiley, 1997

• FEINLEIB, David. (1999) The inside story of interactive TV and Microsoft WebTV for Windows. Morgan Kaufmann,

• media: WHITAKER J. C., (2001). Interactive TV demystified. McGraw-Hill.

Alternative Content

• WPKN Subscriber donation and volunteer operated radio station http://www.wpkn.org/

• WPKN's 'Between The Lines' current affairs programme

• http://www.wpkn.org/wpkn/news/btl.html• Independent media centre - UK http://

uk.indymedia.org/• WBAI Radio

http://www.nyc.indymedia.org:8081/wbix/• Independent Media Center Radio Network

http://radio.indymedia.org/

Articles about ownership• An extended summary of a german

book on cross media ownership http://www.digital-law.net/benderdiss/book.html

• The center for digital democracy's overview of US new media ownership http://www.democraticmedia.org/issues/mediaownership/index.html

• Article on how the advent of broadband could result in cable companies controlling access to content http://www.democraticmedia.org/resources/articles/webbehindwalls.html

• Media ownership in the UK http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/index.html

Organisations

• Center for Digital Democracy http://www.digital-law.net/

• Media channel http://www.mediachannel.org/ UK campaign for press and broadcasting freedom http://www.cpbf.org.uk/ Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting http://www.fair.org/

• Adbusters - a campaign organisation for media freedom http://www.adbusters.org

• Undercurrents http://www.undercurrents.org/Links to alternative media sites http://www.undercurrents.org/links.htm

Resources

• A survey of media ownership http://www.cjr.org/owners/

• UK Communications white paper http://www.communicationswhitepaper.gov.uk/

• What is Interacctive TV? http://www.microsoft.com/TV/Microsoft-TV/Vision/Default.asp

• Overview of MS TV 'family http://www.microsoft.com/TV/Products/platform_graphic.asp

• Cisco 'walled garden' product http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/as/6400/prodlit/c6510_ds.htm